Wetting Characterizations of Oilseed Rapes

Abstract

Oilseed rape, widely cultivated all over the world, plays an important role for our daily life due to its high nutritional and economic values. In this paper, for the first time we discuss the surface wettability of oilseed rapes with special surface structures. It is found that the fresh rape flowers are superhydrophobic with a low Adhesion Force (AF), showing the self-cleaning properties similar to lotus leaves. In contrast, the fresh rape leaves also exhibit hydrophobicity but a high AF, which resemble rose petals. Furthermore, we study the effect of storage time on the wetting properties of rape leaves. The high hydrophobicity of rape leaves gradually switches to hydrophilicity. Meanwhile, the AF intensely increases after placement at room temperature for 10 days. This research offers a profound inspiration to artificially fabricate biomimetic materials with high hydrophobicity and different adhesion characterizations.